The Dying of the Light
by larentina
Summary: Girl!Daniel AU. She hadn't really expected it to ever happen, their friendship. He raged so hard against it that she was certain it was impossible. Then it had happened and at first she'd been so grateful to be the only woman to ever earn his trust... But then there came a time where even that wasn't enough anymore. Warnings inside. Begins 1965 will cover up to 1985 RnR


**A/N So, I haven't actually seen a fanfiction that does this (though if I'm wrong please do correct me because I'd love to read it), so after feeling a little miserable at the whole thing I decided – what the heck. I'll write one myself. So here we are:**

**Chapter Warnings : Rated T for action violence, references to non consensual sex , prostitution and strong language. Will also contain racial slurs and prejudices etc – Rorschach isn't exactly the most politically correct character.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Watchmen or it's characters in any way. If I did I think Rorschach would have dropped me down an elevator shaft by now for giving him excessive amounts of squishy hugs**

* * *

**Chapter One: The home of the Brave**

_**O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,  
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?**_

**(The Star Spangled Banner - Francis Scott Key)**

* * *

**Rorschach's Journal, January 6th 1965**

_Have been sweeping scum from streets near ten months now. Have captured all types of low life – rapers and child molesters with their protestations of innocence, muggers and drug dealers with their lies and offers of 'cutting me in' on their deals. Tied them together and beat them like cymbals until they sang for me. Leave them for police._

_Have heard of new mask in town. Fool in owl suit. Must investigate further. Will likely die. Most do not have the staying power. Cannot stand against the wave of sewage and injustice, cannot wade through the dregs and mire of society in search of justice. Get pulled under the swamp until they suffocate in the putrid sludge that they have tried to destroy._

_Home of the Brave. Yet none tried to save Kitty Genovese. America. Home of the meek._

* * *

She adjusted the goggles nervously, clenching and unclenching her fists so that the gloves tightened comfortingly. _Ease into it, you've done fine these past few days. Just ease on in Dani._

Danielle Dreiberg focused on the area below her, the technology in her goggles picking out individual faces amongst the small gathering of Knot Tops getting high on KT28's or smoking those crappy roll up cigarettes, though the distinct smell of marijuana lingering in the air made her dubious that it was just tobacco they were smoking. She had been observing them for ten minutes or so now, silently perched upon the roof and urging herself to climb down on them and take them by surprise. So far in her long crime fighting career of well, six days, she'd only taken down as many as three people at a time, usually muggings or rapes where she'd had no time to hang around being afraid of running into danger. That was easy, that was just...reacting to the situation. This though, actually actively seeking out a fight, was different. _Their parents are probably at home worrying as we speak, they only look about 18 or 17...3 years younger than me. _Movement across the alleyway caught her eye and she turned to see what it was.

There was a man sneaking down upon them via the fire escape clinging to the building across from her, sliding through and over metal bars with a fluidity she immediately envied. _Who is that?_ She focused in, the goggles zooming on to the person as he crouched on the railing of the fire escape one storey above the Knot Tops. He glanced up, then straight towards where she was sitting and tilted his head in surprise. Belatedly she realised she'd leaned too far over the top of the building to catch a glimpse of his face and was now silhouetted against the moon, plainly visible to him. She also simultaneously recognised the trench coat, the fedora hat and shifting black and white mask as belonging to the vigilante the papers had all been talking about a while back; Rorschach.

Before she could blink he had fallen; no he had _leapt_, flooring one knot top as he landed feet first on his shoulders, catching the others unaware. In a blur the detective spun and lashed out with his left fist at the one nearest to him, driving his nose sideways with a snap that was audible even where she waited, then following it with a quick fire flurry of blows; once to the chest, one on the right shoulder so the boy span and then another strike to his back so that he sprawled forwards onto the concrete.

Two of the remaining three attacked at once, the taller of the two grabbing the detective under the arms as the other levelled a punch at the vigilante's face; Rorschach was faster. He dodged his head to the side, brought an elbow into the face of the one behind him and causing him to yelp in surprise before loosening his grip. Rorschach took the advantage and she watched slightly breathlessly as he pivoted, kicking the one in front of him in the neck as he turned before crudely head butting the one behind him as he swiveled to face him before grabbing the Knot top's wrist and twisting it behind his back until it snapped. Delicately letting the whimpering young man drop to the ground, Rorschach half turned-

_Click_. The other Knot Top held the gun in one shaking hand, spitting out the lit cigarette that had been wedged between his teeth. Rorschach stilled, watching the man over one shoulder and waiting for him to pull the trigger. Dani focused in on the Knot top's eyes, the ragged breathing and dilated pupils telling her for sure that the man was undeniably out of his mind on KT's.

"How'd you like that huh Mr Inkblot? Heh, you think you're a big man, coming here, breaking bones. You jumped up midget. Betcha a faggot too. Playing dress up like that you gotta be-"

Dani crept closer, already halfway down the side of the building she had been perched upon, carefully lowering herself with a grappling hook so that she descended behind the hyped up gun wielder. If Rorschach could see her coming, he didn't acknowledge it. Though he had known she was there from the start, so she surmised he must see her now.

"- I'm going to do you slow, how do you like that eh? Going to shoot your cock off and then fuck you up the ass with my baseball bat-"

She trod slowly now, sneaking up behind the Knot top as gingerly as if she were treading on crushed glass. Stealth wasn't her strong point at all. Rorschach seemed to have realised this because he cut off the youth with a rough, even voice that calmed her nerves a little. If he could be calm so could she.

"-Called me homosexual. Yet display certain preferences towards homosexual activities. Are in denial?"

"I ain't no fag-"

"Wished to rape me with baseball bat." If his voice hadn't been so deadpan she might have suspected he was making a joke. As it was he actually seemed damn curious about it.

"That's not-"

She pounced, wrapping her left arm over his shoulder and around his neck, tugging him down and to the left, kicking the back of his right knee so that it broke and he toppled raising his right arm wildly skywards, a single shot from the gun ringing out. She was quick to grab his right hand with her own as he got his bearings and tried to aim the gun at her whilst bucking and struggling to get back to his feet, or even just out of the headlock she'd put him in.

Rorschach bore down on them like a freight train, ducking to avoid the still moving gun as the idiot fired another shot, this one going wildly astray and taking a chunk out of the brickwork of the apartment buildings on one side.

With a single punch to the head from Rorschach the man was finally knocked unconscious, slumping into her arms before she quickly lay him down, careful not to jar him too badly. When she looked back up, Rorschach was already walking back to the other four and starting to haul the nearest one out onto the main street. She helped silently, pulling one of them up and over her shoulder, blushing a little when she noticed the shifting face looking her up and down. She'd always been a little awkward displaying her strength, especially around men. It was bad enough that she was taller than an average woman, about 5'7". If she stooped. She'd grown up sturdy, as her mother kindly put it. What she really meant was Danielle had grown up to be almost masculine. _Might have been better if I were a guy. Then at least it wouldn't be so bad. Though I probably would have been even taller then. God I'd be monstrous._

She grabbed another one by his collar and dragged him whilst balancing the other over her shoulder in a fireman's lift, wishing she could melt through the floor a bit when she noticed that Rorschach was still staring.

"I just eat a lot of spinach." She muttered to him, not surprised when he didn't make a reply. "You know...like popeye?" It was a weak attempt at humour and left her wanting to smack her head and run away fast. Yet still the vigilante cocked his head and she felt herself continuing and slowly sinking further into the well of embarrassment she'd dug for herself. "He's that sailor who gets really strong when he eats Spinach..." She dumped the bodies down and raised one arm in demonstration. "His muscles all swell up and he gets super strong - Never mind, it was a stupid joke." Tucking her head down into her chest to hide her flaming cheeks, she whipped out a length of cord from her utility belt and concentrated firmly on tying the miscreants to the lamppost that Rorschach had brought them to. _You are so stupid, Dani, do you know that? Jesus get a grip on yourself he probably thinks you're a complete imbecile now. 'Eat a lot of spinach' Why do you do this to yourself?_

"Spinach tampered with using radioactive isotopes?" The growling, almost primal voice interrupted her self reprimanding thoughts and she startled, dropping the tiny metal moon pin she'd been attaching to the leader's coat. It bounced and skittered away, tinkling on the paving and landing near her strange acquaintance's feet. Rorschach placed one foot over it calmly, stooping to pick it up and examining it under the street light, rolling it between two leather gloved fingers.

"Government conspiracy?" He questioned again, face turning back to her and the inkblots shifting through several patterns all at once. One looked strangely like a question mark, whilst another looked like a man with a gun. "Producing super soldiers by tainting food source with steroids and radioactive treatment?"

"Uh, no? It's just a cartoon...Popeye is a cartoon sailor." Somehow she was starting to become a little less uneasy. Mainly because she was getting the feeling that this guy was even more socially awkward than her. "You know..." She hummed the theme song and he quirked his head, then shook it irritably.

"Should have said. Wasted time. Shouldn't be watching government propaganda. Subliminal messaging."

"It's not propaganda it's a _children's cartoon_-"

"Must start young for message to take hold." He flicked the insignia button back to her suddenly and she only just caught it, grabbing it with a thundering two-handed clap and nearly dropping it. She had the distinct feeling that he would have caught it dexterously with one hand if she'd flicked it to him like that. "Too late for you. Already taken hold." He added before walking away without another word.

Glaring after him furiously as he popped his collar and shoved his hands in his pockets, drifting in and out of her vision as he passed under flickering street lamps before being swallowed up by shadow, then reappearing under the next one along. _And to think I just _saved_ that paranoid bastard._

"Yeah, no Problem!" She called after him, watching his head jerk almost imperceptibly. "I'll just thank myself for saving your ass shall I? Yeah, I'll do that!" She threw her hands up, wishing she wasn't wearing a cowl so she could run her hands through her hair. "Asshole." She finally muttered, pinning the stupid moon on the knot top and leaving them for the police to find. Time to call it a night.

* * *

"Danielle! What a nice surprise, come in, please." Hollis smiled and wrung her hand, pressing a fatherly kiss to her cheek as she stepped into the narrow hallway. It was only when they had gone through the whole charade of him getting them both a beer and taking her through to the living room, asking how her parents were, how she was getting on with her studies that the talk cautiously turned towards her night-time activities

"So, how's business?" He asked, brushing his hands over his knees and leaning forward eagerly. Dani didn't really know why she always felt the need to lower her voice when the topic invariably turned towards her escapades as the new Nite Owl, but it just seemed..._right_. "Tonight will be a week to the day since you started out. A new year for a new mask," Hollis continued, a nostalgic look behind his smile as his eyes strayed to the photo on the mantelpiece where the minutemen stood; smiles frozen in time.

"I met another mask last night." Her quiet confession had his head snapping around quickly, his eyes piercing hers.

"Who? The Silk Spectre? Nice girl, Sally's kid. Bit young really; 16 isn't exactly the most responsible age. But Sally was determined. It would be great if you could give the girl some guidance-"

"It wasn't her, Hollis. I'd rather it were, all things considered." Dani's mouth twisted as she remembered the half crazy half brilliant man from the night before. "She at least would have been more polite. No, I met Rorschach."

Hollis' face lifted and he stretched his legs, setting the beer bottle aside. "Now that _is _interesting, he's a new one. I'd love to hear about him, must be quite the character – and his _mask_, now that is incredible looking, does it really-"

"Move? Yeah, it's a pity really that there's only a few pictures of the guy. Although even those don't do it justice. It's incredible Hollis, it doesn't stay still at all, it's permanently moving. At times I almost thought it could be reflecting his expression beneath it, but that's mad."

"Well, isn't that just incredible. I'd read about it of course, in the papers. Reports have died down as the months have gone on but still, hardly anyone knows anything about him."

"If they had met him they wouldn't want to." Dani laughed, her voice turning slightly sour. "He was rude, abrasive and treated me like a barely functional moron. I'm pretty sure he was the single most irritating man I've ever met."

"Only because you haven't met the comedian yet." Hollis supplied and she chuckled lightly, taking a sip of her drink and shrugging.

"He can fight though, I'll give him that. He's like a controlled tornado that just ploughs through people. Takes no prisoners sort of thing."

Her companion nodded, deep in thought. "Well, that's good. Besides, personalities change...he may warm to you, if you are patient." At her disbelieving snort, he smiled widely "You have a good heart Danielle; and you're dependable. If he can't see that then you'll just have to try a little harder to _make_ him see it."

They laughed and the talk turned to her gadgets, how they were working out in fights and about some renovations of Archie's systems that she had been working on. She had been thinking about adding a water cannon of some sort onto the little airship, though Hollis was uneasy of her not adding any sort of gun. Just as a precaution, but Danielle gently but firmly refused. She trusted herself not to use the gun on innocent people but any passengers...well, if she ever _had_ passengers. So far the flights had been strictly solo outings, which was a little saddening, since she'd built in a copilot chair and everything...but the excitement of just flying almost made up for it. Almost.

By the time she left the small house she was feeling better about the night before and had fully decided to take Hollis' advice and brush it off. She was not a confrontational person by nature anyway and probably would have brushed it off even without his advice, but that was besides the point. She liked Hollis, who was much kinder to her than her own domineering father had ever been. She'd only known the first Nite Owl a few months, since the rainy November morning she showed up on his doorstep asking for his permission to be his successor, but they had hit it off rather well. He was nice, humorous and full of advice on her fighting style and on researching into the gang subculture. She got the feeling from him however that he was a little lonely, pushing 50 and living alone in that house with no wife or children to speak of. Her heart went out to him, regretful that such a decent person hadn't managed to settle down and find happiness; despite his jests of hating children and loving the bachelor's life, she caught the fatherly, remorseful looks he shot her sometimes.

_It would have been nice, if he had been my father. But then I wouldn't have a large inheritance to build Archie and all my other gear so I guess it's just as well. Every cloud has a silver lining, as mother would have said._

Taking the long route home, she decided on getting lunch in whatever dinner first took her fancy. Another of Hollis' sage pieces of advice had been that she needed to get out more – and as herself, not Nite Owl. As he'd rightfully put it, what was the point of saving lives if you yourself forgot to live?

* * *

**Rorschach's Journal, January 7th 1965**

_Am unable to shake shadow of Nite Owl II. Was female. Unexpected. Didn't realise straight away. Build decidedly androgynous, accentuated by masculine style of costume. Practical, no excessive skin on show like a cheap whore. Was glad of that. Taller than me. Was irritating._

_Attempted to follow her home but discovered her entering large air machine and lost trail afterwards. Shaped like Owl's head. Curious. She talked of make-believe sailors and conspiracies involving Spinach, but information was confused. Revealed it was only a children's programme. I despair of America's education system filling minds with fallacies. Spinach does not make you stronger. Have tested. Did nothing. Tasted horrible. Threw the rest out of window onto copulating teenagers. They vacated the area soon after._

_Will locate her again tonight, ask why she is doing this. Last Nite Owl was male. She is female, her voice too soft for a man. But uniform gives no hint of body shape. Both Silk Spectre's and Silhouette wore whore clothing. Much skin presented to the world. If Nite Owl is female why does she cover herself? Breaks the convention, irregular. Horrible scars? Or perhaps Lesbian? Could be male and steroids abuse...would explain height, strength and high-pitched voice. But probably female. Must investigate further. Tonight._

* * *

Dani checked Archie's systems before landing slowly, enabling the locking system as she crept out onto the rooftop of the abandoned warehouse. She liked leaving him here, out of the way so that she could sneak back to him. The last thing she wanted was for some teenage delinquents to graffiti her precious ship, or worse take a bat or crowbar to him. From here she'd proceed on foot, patrol the local streets awhile looking for any in progress robberies or disturbances, then head back to Archie and fly him to another part of the city before repeating the process. It was quicker than going everywhere on foot, she reasoned. Though mainly she just loved flying him overhead and thinking of the people below's amazement. It would wear off soon probably, but right now it was still novel. There hadn't been any newspaper accounts as of yet about her, but like Hollis had pointed out, she was only just starting and hadn't wanted to make too much of a splash. Not until she was sure she was a strong swimmer.

She turned up the police radio received built into the ear of her cowl, listening to a hum of voices in the background – stabbing on 4th street, attempted rape, a reported burglary in progress on- That was near her!

Breaking in to a run, she dashed around the corner, vaulting over a railing and skirting a delivery van before slipping silently across the street, darting around within the shadows until she reached her destination.

There were two of them and a third behind the wheel of a beaten up white van with its plates taken off, loading televisions from a broken shop front into the back as quickly as possible._ Hmm. If I could take out the driver whilst the other two are in the shop fetching another television then I could catch the other two unaware as they return. Also must decommission the truck. Must be fast._

The two men ran inside through the broken glass of the window and she moved, pelting across the street and sticking to the side of the truck, sliding along to the drivers window and quickly dealing a blow to his neck, grabbing the keys from the ignition as he wheezed then punching him into unconsciousness. The other two men were returning; she hid on the far side of the van as they loaded in the last television.

"Let's go Jim, the cops will be on us any second. Jim?" The men started coming around the side of the car and she quickly rolled underneath, drawing out a short pocket knife and cautiously beginning to slit the back tires as they ran past.

"Shit, Mike where are the keys?"

"Fuck, is the gear still in the back?"

"Yeah, just hotwire it, quickly. Someone will have dialled 911 by now."

_Yeah, you concentrate on that while I just sneak up on you. _The air was hissing out of the tires now in earnest, unnoticed by the two men who were both bent over the wires beneath the dashboard. _Clearly a pair of modern day geniuses. Those are the wrong wires. _

Rolling out behind the van, she quickly counted to three and threw herself around the side, happy to see they were still both ignorant of her presence. She slammed the open door into one and he dropped with a groan; the other was seated in the driving seat and shot her a panicked look before wriggling away over the unconscious form of the first driver, half falling out of the door onto the pavement.

"Who the _fuck-_"

"Nite Owl. The Second one." She offered helpfully, walking around the van, getting a little amused despite herself at the way he tried to avoid her by circling it too, until they were both on the opposite side to where they'd started. "I'd give it up though Mike, the police are on their way and even if you run or manage to defeat me they'll definitely get your friends here. One of them will exchange a smaller amount of jail time for your name. Honour among criminals is a myth."

"I could put them in the car and drive away." He contested and she held up her hand so that the keys dangled down.

"Guess you'll need these then. Best hurry though, they've already dispatched the officers." He paled, jaw clenching and picked up a crowbar off of the dashboard, testing the weight in his hands as he walked around to her side of the car. She let him, preparing herself to dodge the attacks. So long as she held out long enough for the police to arrive, it'd be fine. She'd certainly taken on worse than this guy, even if he was armed.

"Nice stick" rumbled a familiar voice nearby and she resisted the urge to look over her shoulder. She already knew who it was. "Didn't your mother tell you not to beat women?" Rorschach added and she could see him in her peripheral vision now, standing a little way off to her right.

"You ain't a woman though mister" mike grinned, raising the metal like a bat. "So I reckon I can beat the shit outta you, huh?"

"Hurm." Rorschach shrugged and was on him before she could blink, wrestling the bar from the man, wrenching one arm back and around before doing the same with the other. Even as the criminal struggled, Rorschach calmly held both hands captive in one of his gloves hands, producing a length of rope from one pocket and tying Mike's hands together as neatly and effortlessly as one would tie a turkey's legs together before cooking it. Deliberately knocking the man's knees out from under him, the vigilante lowered the criminal face first to the ground before tossing the crowbar away nonchalantly.

"Should go, Nite Owl. Police will be here."

"S-sure, yeah, I mean come on. Archie isn't far." _Since when do I trip over my words? Apparently since I have a tiny screwball coming to my rescue. Well, almost. I didn't actually need rescuing, since I could have easily taken that guy. But the thought counts right?_

"Archie? Codename?" He queried as they jogged lightly back towards the warehouse and she felt a little thrilled when she realised she would finally have a passenger.

"You'll see." Okay, maybe that came out a little smug, because Rorschach grabbed her elbow and tugged so that she was forced to stop and face him, quickly letting go of her arm as if it had stung him.

"Dislike surprises. Who is Archie?"

"Uh, my airship. Archimedes. It's named after-"

"Mythical Owl of Merlin. Have read about it." He turned, seemingly accepting her explanation.

"Oh! That's great, I love-"

"Should go now." He interrupted, but not too unkindly,even if the tone was anything but polite. She knew he was right.

They continued jogging, her leading the way, but she couldn't resist stealing sideways glances at the mask, wondering just who was underneath. Making little bets with herself about what he looks like, just for fun.

"Rude to stare." He snaps and her eyes flick away, wondering how long he'd been watching her too beneath the swirling vortex of ink.

* * *

He had caught her watching him taking in his face like it was oxygen to her, impressively managing to do so whilst still remaining aware of her surroundings. It made him feel dirty, like he wanted to rip himself out of his skin and disappear into someone _not _under the scrutiny of her gaze.

But her ship, Archimedes, was impressive even to Rorschach, who held a sullen dislike for most things until he was proven wrong. That didn't happen often, not when there was no one around willing to risk questioning him. Walter did sometimes but his opinion wasn't important, not as soon as he got home from his poorly paid job at the textiles factory, placed the mask on and turned into Rorschach for the night. He didn't like it when he felt aspects of his own personality leaching through into his persona as Rorschach. It made him distracted. Like now for instance.

_I should try to start a conversation with her, find out more about her._

_**Stupid idea, conversation leads to flirtation which leads to fornication and debasement.**_

_Then try to just answer any question she asks. That isn't a conversation, that's just polite._

_**Will Try. **_

"Um, Rorschach? How did you know where to find me?"

"Didn't. Coincidence."

"Ah. So, why are you out here?" Her face was curious, from what he could see of it, which was really just her lips and high cheekbones. He'd been making a dress the same colour as her lips earlier that day, when he was Walter. It was a shade of red that was called 'Alizarin' on the charts. He liked it because the name was unusual, not like the more commonly used crimson or scarlet.

_**Red is a whore's colour Walter.**_ He reprimanded himself, pushing down any of his own personal thoughts and moving back into being Rorschach, as quick as a falling raindrop. He'd forgotten what she'd asked by now, so settled for remaining silent. She seemed to take that as an incentive to continue, babbling from her seat next to him and waving one hand communicatively as she steered with the other. He still listened, he always did. Information should never be passed up.

"-is okay, I understand that you don't trust me and you probably don't want to dredge up every bit of your history and so on, it's fine, I just thought you might want to talk to someone about it you know since we're both masks." She stopped for breath and he knew she was looking at him again beneath the goggles she wore. "I'm just out here because I want to make a difference, you see. I just wondered why you were."

So that had been the question. "Personal reasons." He ground out, images of his mother and the picture of Kitty Genovese from the paper flashing before his eyes. Clenching his teeth behind the material of the mask, he wondered again why he had approached this..._woman_. She undeniably was a woman now, he was convinced. _**Nobody meddles like a woman**_. Walter agreed, though he also added quietly that she was very different to the other female masks and Rorschach should find out about that.

"Why Nite Owl? Not...shadow or Night stalker..." He trailed off, hoping she'd get the gist of his question.

"Mainly because most other female masks end up choosing names that make them sound like porn stars. I didn't trust my judgement on a name, knowing me I'd pick something and think 'That's amazing!' then the day after debuting under that name realise how it sounded and have to regret it for the rest of my life. Also I love birds and admired the first Nite Owl after I read his book and researched his history. He seemed the only one of the previous generation of masks that seemed...sane?" She offered, shrugging as she angled the airship down towards a certain rooftop.

"Still. Costume is different."

"Oh yeah the original Nite Owl costume was a little-"

"To other female masks." He clarified before she could go off onto another of her speeches. "Look less of a whore." He supplied helpfully, so that she would understand.

The response was not what he had expected; usually when he implied a woman was a whore he received a sharp slap to the face if he wasn't quick enough to catch the hand. If he was lucky he got off with just a stream of swearing accompanied by obscene hand gestures that he could ignore. So when she threw back her head and laughed until the ship jolted and she had to take a break from her mirth to set it to hovering just below the clouds. Even then she was giggling softly, like a child.

"Don't understand how my words were humorous." He stated, waiting for her to explain herself. _**Could be insane. **_

"Just the honesty. I'll take it as a compliment though. Hate to consider what else it might be." She smiled again, displaying a set of small, delicate teeth. He resisted the automatic upward quirk of his lips, suddenly realising that he'd never had a woman smile directly at him before. His mouth rapidly went dry and he cursed Walter's lack of social skills when it came to the opposite sex. They were not conducive to extracting information from this woman. Clearing his throat, he retreated into the backs of his mind, allowing Rorschach to take over. Rorschach was free from lusts, from the desire for friendship, free from loneliness.

"Wish to know, why you were holding back last night. Before the fight. Saw you waiting, watching me. Following me?" He finished, weighing his words carefully and attempting to make them less terse so that she would understand. He usually preferred using as few words as possible but she wouldn't be used to his speech patterns and might get confused. _**Shouldn't make allowances for stupid, filthy- **_

_She's being nice to us. We should at least be cordial._

_**Am Cordial. When am I not?**_

_Always?_

"Oh I wasn't! I had no idea you were going to show up, I was about to drop in myself then you showed up so I thought I'd let you deal with it seeing as you're more experienced, plus I read about you in the papers so I wanted to see you fight." She folded her hands over her lap, looking over the various buttons before glancing back at him, then quickly looking away.

"Hrm."

"...Would you like coffee?" She offered and he shook his head violently, standing up inside the cramped interior of the owl ship.

"Must go. Patrol."

"Oh, alright. Well, if you ever feel like not patrolling on your own...for safety's sake. I would be glad to be your partn-"

"Don't have partners." He shoved his hands into his pockets and huffed. "Must go now." She took the hint and steered the ship down, making a bumpy landing that jarred his bones. She apologised profusely, but by the time she turned around he was already gone, trudging away with his collar turned up against the cold.

Twenty minutes later he drew out his journal, secluded within a cluster of chimney stacks atop some of the city's older houses. It was one of his favourite places to write, penned in by the brick around him and sheltered from the rain, yet not cut off completely from the city he served. Sliding out the pen he kept hidden up his sleeve, he began to write;

_**January 7th 1965 – continued.**_

_**Have met with mask from previous night. Next Nite Owl, though female this time. Strange woman, however, scorns the lascivious behaviour of other female masks. Preferred to take masculine name than be considered whorish. Interesting. Must ask more. Failed in task to only answer questions and engaged in conversation with Nite Owl II, when confused by outburst of laughter. Was untouched by it. Walter thought it was beautiful. Was horrified to find self slipping out of character and thinking like myself and not like Rorschach. I'm doing it now even, Damn.**_

The man who was not yet totally Rorschach, but mostly Walter Kovacs despite his best efforts sighed and pushed one hand under his mask to wipe away the sweat that had gathered beneath the material. It was time to go and get changed out of the uniform. He had work tomorrow.

* * *

**A/N Not expecting a massive response, but it would be great to hear what people think even if it's a short "Will suffice." or even "Fine like this." I even love Rorschach style reviews ;)**


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